YOUR VIEW: Letters to the editor/Dec. 17

Tuesday

Dec 17, 2013 at 3:00 AM

Disparity hurts life in AmericaLies to further agenda are evilIndividuals best at providing help

Disparity hurts life in America

From the end of World War II in 1945 until 1973, the American middle class saw a steadily rising income. Since, median family income has dropped by thousands of dollars. Real unemployment sits at more than 14 percent. Millions of Americans work longer hours for lower wages; 46 million now live in poverty and the United States is plagued with the highest rate of childhood poverty in the industrialized world.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont, offered the following information in a recent interview, citing official statistics:

Unions once represented 35 percent of the workforce. Today it's 11 percent. Without the clout of unions, workers have no way to negotiate a decent wage. Previously won fringe benefits such as vacation time and medical coverage have been degraded.

Meanwhile, the Walton family, heirs to the Walmart empire, has more wealth than the bottom 40 percent of our population. Exxon Mobil had a "bad" year in 2009, having made only $19 billion in profit. They paid nothing in federal taxes but got a $156 million refund from the IRS. A number of companies paid nothing or very little in taxes despite being bailed out by the American people during the financial crisis.

We lose about $100 billion yearly in taxes because they use tax havens in the Cayman Islands, Bermuda, etc.

RICHARD C. BORAWSKI

New Hartford

Lies to further agenda are evil

Christ called the devil the father of lies. When someone lies (willfully deceives, misleads or intentionally violates the truth) they're doing the devil's bidding; and whoever willingly enables, supports or condones a liar and his lie, aligns himself with the evil that liar serves.

Keep that in mind as you consider all the misleading information, deception, and violations of the truth Obama and his leftist accomplices have fed us about Benghazi, Fast and Furious, the IRS misdeeds, Obamacare, etc.

America's political system is infested with liars, hypocrites and propagandists; but lies told to further an agenda, amass power, manipulate an electorate, or cover up wrongdoings are especially egregious.

Ever wonder why the legal oath required witnesses to affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth, so help them God? A politician who spins is misleading you. An agenda driven media that cherry picks what they report is violating the truth. A bureaucrat playing tricks with facts/figures is being deceitful.

So what shall we stand for in America: good or evil, truth or lies? There's no middle ground to choose from; and the gray areas belong to the devil, because God cannot compromise or be compromised.

VINCENT RONDENELLI

Clinton

Individuals best at providing help

Recently, Pope Francis released an apostolic exhortation, "The Joy of the Gospel." In it, he calls upon Catholics to better understand and live by critically important aspects of church teachings.

Pope Francis' vision includes, among other things, the social inclusion of the poor. His church, founded upon scripture, tradition and magisterium, teaches us that while we are saved by grace, personal responsibility and individual sacrifice are fundamental to improving the human condition — the situations that we all face on a day-to-day basis.

The Pope does not call upon world governments to act alone or with absolute authority. But Catholics are called upon to do as much as we possibly can to help those most in need. In fact, when acting altruistically, individuals are much more effective than any government in helping others.

This is the same message in the Gospel of Matthew on the Judgment of Nations, "I tell all of you with certainty, since you did it for one of the least among you, you did it for me." Francis is not a socialist or a Marxist, but a Catholic who is trying to teach by example, as did Jesus Christ and his earliest followers.